Road Warrior: Avoiding the Super Bowl, almost

At about the same time that football fans are descending on a certain stadium in East Rutherford today, Carolyn Stefani will be returning by car to Bergenfield from Carnegie Hall after a performance of Handel’s "Theodora," one of her favorite operas.

"Super Bowl was NOT a consideration" when she bought her tickets, Stefani admits now, "but perhaps it should have been."

Yes, for North Jersey road warriors with little love for the gridiron sport, overlooking its most glorious and whirlwind day can be costly, especially within 40 miles of MetLife Stadium. Hundreds of parties are expected to send an estimated 400,000 people through the area.

How do they escape? And if they manage to do so, how do they return home when roads and rails may be clogged?

"Whenever there’s a game at the stadium, our usual strategy is to drive in the opposite direction — maybe to a movie in Wayne or Montclair," said Regina Domeraski, whose Lyndhurst home is near both the on-field and off-field action.

Fearing a deluge of out-of-state drivers, some locals ignore such events and stay put. Others are a bit more creative. Despite local street closures, one East Rutherford man has even found a way to drive to the borough’s big outdoor party on Park Avenue while leaving his car parked in his driveway.

"I’m riding my Segway there," explained Bill Collins,

Traditional strategies, though, include the George Washington Bridge by car or bus, the PATH tubes in Hoboken and the New York Waterway ferries — at least the ones in Hoboken and Edgewater. There’s also the Tappan Zee Bridge farther north in South Nyack, N.Y., a "dogleg" route that might add a half-hour to a routine trip across the Hudson. But it’s the "path of least resistance" to avoid a half-hour traffic delay, said one Morris County man.

Like Carolyn Stefani, Dave Judovin’s "uh-oh" moment came sometime after the Ringwood dad promised his daughter he would drop her and her friends off at a Broadway matinee just as fans begin arriving in the Meadowlands. Kickoff isn’t until 6:30 p.m., but pregame and postgame traffic for Giants and Jets games typically produce tie-ups.

"Should I expect trouble?" Judovin said.

"Will ‘Bowl madness’ get in my way?" said Stefani.

Could be.

Although XLVIII is called the first mass-transit Super Bowl, there are still thousands of spectators who will be arriving by car, and hundreds of thousands more who don’t have tickets to the Big Game, but are attending parties throughout the New York and New Jersey metro region. Some of them, of course, will be using Routes 120, 3, 495 and the Lincoln Tunnel, all of which lead to MetLife Stadium. Fortunately, the state Department of Transportation has canceled all non-emergency road projects.

But even if Stefani and Judovin use the venerable GWB, they’ll likely face delays in Manhattan as they drive through the theater district, which will likely be more crowded than usual because Broadway from West 34th and West 47th streets will continue to be closed even though Super Bowl festivities on Broadway ended Saturday night.

Seamlessly crossing the big span and navigating Manhattan today will depend on timing, said Sam Schwartz, a transportation consultant and former New York City transportation commissioner.

"Historically, traffic is as light as you can imagine during a Super Bowl," Schwartz said. But "Gridlock Sam," as he’s called, believes "bus-lock" is likely in midtown this afternoon when fans begin leaving their hotels to board buses at crowded curbsides for trips to the stadium through the Lincoln Tunnel.

"When the tunnel is crowded," he said, "that’s when the George Washington Bridge gets very heavy."

If in doubt, Manhattan-bound travelers can avoid vehicle crossings altogether by parking in Hoboken and boarding the PATH trains.

Another option today is the ferry system. Extra boats aren’t being added, said New York Waterway spokesman Bill Easton, but they run every 20 minutes — and the ride is free for passengers under 13. There’s no charge either for connecting buses on the Manhattan side.

"Uh-ohs" were also heard coming from the David Singer household in Demarest soon after a 3:30 p.m. flight from Newark Liberty International Airport was scheduled for a family member. These arrangements were made "without thinking," Singer said.